Psaume 38:16-23

16 Car c'est à toi, Éternel, que je m'attends; tu répondras, Seigneur, mon Dieu!
17 Car j'ai dit: Qu'ils ne se réjouissent pas à mon sujet! Quand mon pied glisse, ils s'élèvent contre moi.
18 Et je suis prêt à tomber, et ma douleur est toujours devant moi.
19 Car je déclare mon iniquité; je suis dans la crainte à cause de mon péché.
20 Cependant mes ennemis sont vivants et forts, et ceux qui me haïssent sans cause sont nombreux.
21 Et, me rendant le mal pour le bien, ils se font mes adversaires parce que je m'attache au bien.
22 Ne m'abandonne point, ô Éternel! Mon Dieu, ne t'éloigne point de moi!
23 Hâte-toi, viens à mon aide, Seigneur, qui es ma délivrance!

Psaume 38:16-23 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 38

\\<>\\. This psalm was composed by David under some sore affliction, and when in great distress of mind by reason of sin, perhaps his sin with Bathsheba; and was written as a memorial of his sense of sin, of his great afflictions, and deliverance from them; and therefore is said to be "to bring to remembrance", or to refresh his memory with the said things. Kimchi and Ben Melech think the psalm was made for the sake of such as are in distress, to put them in mind and teach them how to pray. The Targum calls the psalm, ``a good remembrance concerning Israel;'' and Jarchi says it was to remember the distress of Israel before the Lord, and that it is said with respect to all Israel; though others think the word "lehazcir" is the name of a psalm tune; and Aben Ezra was of opinion that it was the first word of some pleasant poem. The Septuagint version adds, ``concerning the sabbath,'' as if it was wrote to put persons in mind of that day; whereas there is nothing in the whole psalm that has any such tendency.

The Ostervald translation is in the public domain.